Various techniques and devices are known in the art for seating the bead, or inner rim, or a tire on a wheel rim. The goal is to ensure that the bead of the tire aligns with and seats within the bead seat on the wheel rim. Air may be trapped between the edges of a tire and the rim during the mounting process. When vehicle wheel is balanced with the trapped air in place, undesired imbalance conditions can result during operations after the trapped air escapes.
The bead seating problem is not easily solved. Friction inhibits movement between the rubber tire and the metal rim. Some bead seating methods use lubrication combined with partial inflation and manipulation of the tire. These methods are labor intensive and relatively slow. Some machines address the problem by massaging or pushing on the tire in order to seat the bead. But these techniques also are relatively slow and lead to imperfect bead seating. They also require extensive human involvement.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved bead seater assembly that can automatically perform the bead seating task in an automatic tire installation and wheel assembly operation.